COUNSELLING WITH
ALL YOUR HEART,
YOUR SOUL, YOUR MIND AND YOUR STRENGTH
"Hear, O Israel:
The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
strength. These commandments that I give you today are to
be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about
them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road,
when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols
on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them
on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."
- Deuteronomy 6:4-8
I have often wondered if in all our ministry and serving the
Lord, we actually grieve Him. You may now be thinking that I
am being overly strong or even a tad judgmental. However, I
am certainly struggling with the thought about what does God
really want from me.
In the above passage, we
see that God first desires for us to be able to love Him with
all our heart, our soul, our mind, and our strength. As I reflect
on this, I am brought to the understanding that God is indeed
a ìdemandingî God. HE WANTS EVERY BIT OF US! Our
emotions, our person, our intellect, and our service. Significantly
for me, I now ponder over the life that I am living and I ask
myself if I am indeed able to give Him every facet of my life
for His pleasure.
Despite having a tradition
of being a 4th generation Christian, attending church since
I was 2 months old (infant baptism ñ good olí
Methodism), schooled in a Mission School, and led many Christian
groups either as the chairperson or president, served full-time
in ministry, I still struggle with the Lord on many fronts of
my life till this day.
Why is this so? Why is
it so difficult to follow the ways of the Lord even though we
are ready to profess our love and loyalty to Him? Remember,
God does not just want PART of us, but he demands ALL of us.
All too often, we go on
a course of wanting to serve Him and yet when we do, we have
a tendency to put our ministry on cruise control. We forget
that it is not the work that we do that is important, but the
privilege of the partnership that God grants us by allowing
us to serve Him. It is us that need God, and not God that requires
us. This we must never lose sight of.
Keeping ourselves in tune
with His Holy Spirit and walking closely with Him is not something
that is natural. Our carnal self often (unknowingly) battles
the work of His Spirit and we very quickly sink into complacency
and pride, or on the other side of the coin, despair and helplessness.
Obedience to God is not easy. It was never meant to be. It is
indeed hard work. The work being to trust and obey and not on
the very task itself.
In honesty, WCCA 2010 is
one example of my deep struggles with the Lord. Every two years,
the question as to whether we are planning to have another conference
crops up. The feelings within me are mixed. My human self tells
me that we are already so taxed of resources and putting it
together will only further drain us. This is not to mention
the attacks we encounter spiritually on the many fronts of our
lives and our health, our family, our marriage and sometimes
even a deep sense of discouragement and doubt about why we should
even try to do this.
Yet, my heart knows that
the Lord desires for this conference to go yet another round
as the needs there are great, and God has placed WCCA in a very
special position to speak spiritual, theological, and clinical
truths into the hearts of so many that have been blessed over
the years.
Is this too much for the
almighty God to ask from me? Can I not understand that He has
placed us strategically over the last 8 years to champion the
cause of holistic Christian Counselling? Has He not time after
time, seen us through each and every conference with His wonderful
love and providence?
I ask for God's and each
of your forgiveness.
I grumble too much, I doubt
too much, I resist Him too much, and I have failed to see the
blessings that God has created for us to be able to serve Him
in such a wonderful way.
So when I finally decided
to step out again in obedience to organize WCCA 2010, I have
to learn for myself first what it meant to serve God with all
my being.
I resolved that this conference
will be different. Different because I will choose to trust
Him and to do the best that I can for His glory and will pray
for the joy of servitude to be in my heart always. I desire
the peace of God, the presence of His comforting love, the assurance
of His steadfast faithfulness through all things and in all
things. I do not want to doubt anymore, I do not want to grumble
anymore, and I just want to do the will of my Father and to
please Him. Whatever the outcome, it is up to God to decide,
and so be it.
I desire for the peace of
God to rest within me, my wife, our family, the organizing committee,
our Board of Advisors and yes, for each of you that the Lord
will call to be part of this historic conference.
Please pray with us as
we prepare again to come together on the 26 - 28 July 2010.
May we keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith, and may our feet remain steadfast on His Word as we trust
on His promises. May our devotion be complete in prayer and
thanksgiving, and may the encouragement of the family of God
continue to bring healing and restoration to this generation
of wounded healers desiring to serve Him in Christian counselling.
This conference will be
different because we choose to let the glory of the Lord be
seen. We desire nothing more, nothing less.
See you soon!
God's blessings on all of you.
Danny Ng
Chairperson
WCCA 2010 Organizing Committee
